Disclaimer: Still don't own 'em. Although it'd be kind of cool to own 'em... not sure what I'd do with 'em...

RESTLESS WARRIORS

By Etcetera Kit

Chapter Nine: Camp Yellow

Maya smiled as the operator gave her a 'thumbs-up' indicating that the phone call was connected and she would either get an answering machine or a real person. Kelsey was waiting in the lobby. She felt bad, taking money from her, but at the same time, she was grateful to be able to tell her friends where she was and that she was okay. A phone began to ring over the line. Maya adjusted the headset, hoping that Kendrix was home.

Someone picked up the phone before the first ring had ended. "Hello?" Kendrix asked, sounding worried and exhausted.

"Hi," Maya said softly. "It's Maya."

"Oh my God!" Kendrix cried into the phone and then covered the mouthpiece and yelled, "It's Maya!"

The resultant noise on the other line was a cacophony of loud voices and people shuffling around, arguing over the phone. Was everyone in her and Kendrix's apartment, waiting for her to finally call or send a wire? It was just like them to call Kelsey and ask about her. How many of the other Lightspeed Rangers did they call in their frenzy?

Finally, Mike said loudly, over all the other voices, "I outrank all of you! Give me the phone!"

There was some protest, but the noise quieted. "Maya?" Mike asked into the phone.

"Hey," she replied, smiling. "Is everyone over there?"

He paused. "Uh-huh."

"Have any of you gone to work like you were supposed to?"

The silence was not reassuring. "Look, Stanton understands what we were going through," he explained. "Things have been really slow and he didn't mind. Besides, we've been going in for partial shifts."

"You guys shouldn't skip work because of me."

"When we didn't hear from you, we were worried."

She didn't doubt that. Leo had probably been ready to jump on the next shuttle to Earth and hunt her down himself. The six of them had grown close in a relatively short period of time. It was kind of funny really, since they all had such varied backgrounds—the stowaway, the science officer, the navigator, the commander, the mechanic. It was like the five who ultimately received the Quasar Sabers were thrown together from all walks of life.

"What's happened?" Mike asked.

That was a hard question to answer. She had talked to Trini twice and contacted the others, found the ninja academy and learned of what needed to be done. They had a plan of action and nothing was going to stop that plan. But what should she tell Mike? Her reasons had seemed flimsy to Kendrix… they would seem even flimsier to Mike. Were they all surrounded by skeptics and disbelievers?

"It's hard to explain," she said slowly.

"Maya, it has to be something, otherwise you wouldn't have hopped a shuttle to Earth without so much as a goodbye for the rest of us."

"I know. I have my saber. I'll be all right."

Her eyes flicked to her morpher. The morphers had appeared when one drew the Quasar Saber from the stone. The legends of the Quasar Sabers had been told ever since she could remember. For three thousand years, no one could pull the sabers from their resting place. Then Furio came and, with him, came the chosen ones. She had never imagined she would be one of the chosen, one of the ones to become the Power Rangers. She had also never imagined losing her world and gaining a new one in the space of one day. That was also when they had thought they lost Mike… no… she was not going to allow him to get involved in this. It had almost killed Leo to lose his older brother before and it was not going to happen again, not on her time.

"I told Kendrix all I knew before I left," she added.

"Surely you've learned something else." She could almost see his frown—the way he looked when something didn't quite sound right to him.

"I'm with the others. Everything is taken care of."

"Which others?"

"Kelsey and Dustin and Kira and Taylor."

He knew who Kelsey was. He had never met her, but he knew who she was. "I'm going to wire you some money, care of Kelsey," he said.

"Mike, no-"

"I'm wiring you money," he interrupted, leaving no room for argument. "If I know anything about you, then you've spent all your money on a shuttle to wherever you're going, calling on pay phones and sending letters and then slept on a park bench."

She remained silent. When he was right, he was right. How did he get to know her that well? It was uncanny in a sense. "All right," she replied softly. "But promise me that you won't lead a rescue mission to Earth!" she added loudly.

"Why would I do that?" He sounded puzzled.

"I know you—it's somewhere floating around in your mind."

"All right! I won't come to Earth. But you have to promise to be careful and not run off doing something stupid." He paused. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

There was some shuffling on the other line and Leo whispered loudly, "Just tell her, Mike!" There was a sound of someone being punched—probably Leo, before the chaos about someone else having a turn to talk started up again.

"Can everybody just shut-up?" Damon yelled, clearly heard in the phone. "You all will get a chance to talk to her!"

"Let us know if anything happens," Mike said quickly. "Take care of yourself."

"I will. Bye, Mike."

"Bye!"

"You wuss!" Leo yelled, probably aimed at Mike.

"Give me the phone!" Kendrix was crying. "She's my roommate! It's my phone!"

Maya smiled as she listened to the others yelling at each other, trying to decide who got to talk to her next. It was amazing that they had ever learned to work together long enough to be rangers together. She supposed that it was a mark of how much they cared about each other that they would beat each other up trying to talk to a missing group member. They would decide who got to talk—she just hoped that this phone call wouldn't cost too much and that Mike would wire the money quickly so she could reimburse Kelsey.


Dustin got out of the car and stretched. After he had gone to give Mrs. Devine the rent money, his car had decided it wasn't going to start. It was one of the normal problems—no oil or no coolant. He could not count how many time he had both those systems repaired professionally and how many times he had fixed it himself and yet, they still broke down on a regular basis. The conclusion was that he needed a new car. The corollary was that he didn't have the money to get a new car—it was cheaper from month to month to just repair the junk bucket.

So, after getting the car running, he was late beyond belief. He had called Kelsey and got directions to the camp site, so he could meet them straight there. She had been cool about it—giving him the directions and then stating that they could go grocery and supplies shopping when he got there. That made sense since he did have the credit card that was funding everything.

The park had been easy to find and he found their camp site by stumbling upon a place where two yellow cars and one blue rental car were parked. He didn't know anyone else who purposely bought yellow cars and Kelsey was waving to him, while Taylor and Kira were working on setting up a small tent next to a huge one.

"Hey!" Kelsey said with a grin as he opened the back door of the car to unload his stuff. "Got the car working?"

"Finally," he replied with a grimace. "I really need a new car."

"Don't we all?" she commiserated, motioning to her station wagon that had once been yellow and had a drooping back bumper.

He laughed. At least someone else understood about faulty cars. "Where's Maya?" he asked as Kelsey picked up an armful of sleeping bags and he shouldered his duffel bag and picked up his pillow.

"Finding firewood," she replied.

Kira joined them and helped Kelsey with the sleeping bags. "We set up your tent," she said, gesturing to the little green tent next to a large navy blue one. "You're welcome."

"Thanks," he said.

He threw his sleeping bag, pillow and duffel bag into his tent, while Kira and Kelsey put the other sleeping bags in the large tent. Taylor was sitting at the picnic table, pulling flashlights and other gear out of a plastic box. That was one thing he remembered—his flashlight with extra batteries. She looked to be in a better mood than she had been earlier that day even. Did she go get laid before coming up here?

Oh well, stranger things had happened. He went over to the picnic table where Kira and Kelsey joined them. Kira shoved him down onto one of the benches, in a playful manner. He winced—for someone who looked so petite, she was strong. Taylor looked up at him and gave him a neutral look.

"Hi," he said, forcing a smile.

"Do you have a flashlight?" she asked, ignoring his attempt at formalities. Well, maybe she didn't get laid.

"Uh, yes," he said, flashing her another grin.

She rolled her eyes. He supposed that that was better than her signature glare. "Good. We have enough flashlights to go around."

"I told you it wouldn't be a problem," Kelsey said. "Besides, we should stick together after dark anyways and a shortage of flashlights would have facilitated that."

"And we don't know what kind of creeps might be after us," Kira added.

Dustin didn't know what to think of that. According to the scroll of destiny, then Vypra was already putting her plan into action. Anyone could have read that scroll before it was stored at the Wind Ninja Academy and anyone could have made a copy. That scroll clearly said who the yellow rangers were. Unless Vypra and her bunch were relying on their hiding place being well hidden, they must have a plan to take them out. Then again, sometimes people were that arrogant. For the first time in his life, he wished he was Cam, because Cam would have known what to do about all this, what to think.

Maya came into the camp site and dropped an armful of wood by the picnic table. "We have to contact them tonight," she said. "There isn't much time."

There wasn't much time for what?


Kelsey studied the other faces as they stood around the campfire that night. Maya was gazing into the fire. She wasn't entirely sure what they were doing since they had already contacted Trini and knew basically what their mission was. Then again, there had to be more details to it than Trini had initially said. Maya had said that they needed to contact the spirits and it starting to look like doubting Maya was a bad idea. She sighed, watching the others. Taylor looked bored and antsy. No doubt she was tired of waiting and contacting the spirit world. She probably just wanted to jump right into the mission. Shoot anything that moves and then ask questions… that seemed to be her motto. However, there seemed to be something else there and she wasn't sure what it was.

Kira was looking into the fire with a contemplative look on her face. She appeared to be deep in thought albeit slightly troubled. Kelsey wondered what tragedy she could have had in her life… she was so young. Granted, Kelsey didn't know much about Kira other than the basic facts that they had exchanged when lost in the woods together. Dustin was standing in between Kira and Taylor, looking thoughtful and anxious. Kira had made a comment earlier that Dustin was being unnaturally quiet. Kelsey imagined that he was normally a happy-go-lucky kind of guy who openly wore his emotions. 'What you see is what you get' seemed to describe him perfectly, if he had been acting normally. He and Kira were so young. What had happened to them to take away their sense of spirit and happiness?

"It's time," Maya said softly.

Kelsey snapped her attention to Maya, watching passively as she performed the usual ritual that brought them into contact with the spirit world. Maya was a mystery to all of them. She had been when she and the other Galaxy Rangers came to help the Lightspeed Rescue Rangers. She was like the sage that held wisdom none of them could hope to achieve and she was in tune with nature almost unnaturally. While she related to Maya, there were also grounds for being afraid of her.

"I call on the spirit of the Yellow Ranger that has gone beyond. I call on her for guidance in this moment of confusion." She turned and looked to the rest of them. "More are coming," she whispered. "Hold out your hands."

Kelsey exchanged a nervous glance with Kira as they all stepped closer to Maya, their palms outstretched. Maya took out the pocket knife and Kelsey cringed, knowing what was going to happen. She nicked each of their index fingers and held their hands over the fire so that a drop of blood fell to the fire. Once Maya released her hand, Kelsey winced feeling the sharp pain through her finger again and put her finger in her mouth, sucking away the blood to stop the bleeding. Maya cut her own finger and her blood fell in the fire.

Tiny blue lights rose from the fire and formed into four shapes on the opposite side of the fire from where they were. Kelsey recognized Trini. With her were three men. One of them had golden skin and eyes, longish black hair and an aura of pure and cool power about him. He studied all of them with practiced indifference. The man in the middle had shoulder-length blonde hair was in raucous curls, summer-sky blue eyes and sported large wings—fairy wings—that were dark blue and silver, the colors swirling to the very tips. He smiled warmly at them. The final man was completely bald. Kelsey couldn't be sure if he had shaved his head or never had any hair. He had warm brown eyes and was clad in a kimono of sorts.

"A wish made with blood is an offering to those who have gone beyond," Trini intoned with a smile for them. "How are all of you?"

"Fine," Taylor said shortly. Kira smiled, nodding. Dustin shrugged. Kelsey just stared at them, entranced by the men who had come with Trini.

"Tonight is the first quarter," Trini said. "The ceremony will be held at the new moon. You have twenty-four days." She paused. "Let me introduce the others who have come with me. This is Lucivar, the Prince of the Demons and Darkness, leader of the Dark Council." She indicated the black-haired man. Kelsey involuntarily shuddered. Something about him said that he was powerful and most of the power was evil.

"King Boric of the fairy court," Trini continued, pointing to the blonde man with fairy wings. Now his wings made sense. He was a fairy. Kelsey had always read that fairies were small, but perhaps he had glamour or something to make him appear human sized.

"And Zordon, leader of the Council of Light."

Kelsey recognized the name Zordon. What Power Ranger didn't? He was the being that had led the first teams of Power Rangers, giving them their power coins and helping them harness and create new powers. However, by the time any of them became rangers, Zordon had long since ceased to exist in the mortal realm.

"We have twenty-four days?" Maya asked. "We don't even know where to being searching for them!"

"You will search in the mortal realm," Lucivar said suddenly, starting all of them. He spoke in a low tenor with a slight hiss and seductive quality. His voice seemed to be the embodiment of pure evil. "Leave the spirit search to us. My sister is one of the ones scheming in this madness. I will find her and she will be destroyed."

"Lucivar," Zordon interrupted. His voice was a low bass, but unlike Lucivar, it was warm and caring, like an older male relative who listened and cared. "You have read the scrolls of destiny. These five are the ones who must stop this. None of us can do much more except to aide them."

Lucivar didn't reply, but his jaw was clenched. In his silence, Boric spoke up. "I have employed one of my scouts to help you look. He cannot stay in the mortal realm long, but he can help in bits and pieces." He paused. "He should arrive sometime in the morning."

"But what if we end up face to face with these demons?" Kira asked. "Most of us no longer have our powers."

Kelsey knew what she meant. She and Maya were the only ones that still had their powers. Taylor, Dustin and Kira had either given their powers back to the one who held the source or their powers had been destroyed or drained. It was also something that she had not thought about before. She had always had her powers and had taken it for granted that she always would. What would happen if she suddenly lost her rescue morpher? Zordon nodded at their question.

"I have the power to give you back your morphing ability. However, it would only be for the duration of this mission."

She watched as the trio without their powers nodded. Zordon closed his eyes and held his hand out towards the fire. A swirling blue light appeared and went to the wrists of Dustin and Kira, Taylor's palm. A morpher appeared on Dustin's wrist, while a large silver bracelet appeared on Kira's wrist. Something that looked remarkably like a cell phone appeared in Taylor's hand. They looked at their morphers and then back to Zordon, smiling.

"Why us?" Dustin asked. "I don't understand why the ancient ninjas chose us."

Zordon gave the young Wind Ranger an appraising look. "This mission has been set down before the dawn of time. The ancient ninjas had as little control over it as you do. They just faithfully recorded what would happen. They knew it would fall into the right hands."

"How do you know these are the right hands?"

Zordon nodded. He was obviously the wisest and most powerful of the four that were with them. "You are all Yellow Rangers. I know that not much power and prestige comes with your position. The others are remembered. The red rangers are seen for their leadership and strength. The pink rangers are seen for their caring and kindness, their compassion. Other colors are mentioned and brought to mind over yellow. But now is the time for the Yellow Rangers to take charge. It is time for you to step up and realize your destiny. All of you have been silent too long, saving your strength for a battle that never came. That battle is here.

"Yellow Rangers are known for their quiet, meditative nature. They most often are the ones who are active and loyal. They are the ones with the sixth sense and the ones that want to help the others. All of you possess these qualities, even if you do not know it." Zordon paused, smiling at the only male in their group. "Dustin, you are the only male Yellow Ranger from Earth. That, in and of itself, is a distinction. You are stronger than you think. All of you are."

"Aren't there other Yellow Rangers?" Kira asked.

"Yes," Zordon replied. "But they have other obligations. Some of them have families and children. Some of them are in the future. Some of them are helping the Earth in another way. Some are in the spirit realm," he added, indicating Trini.

"Will you help us?" Maya asked.

He nodded. "I will always been in contact with you. All you need do is call." He paused and looked on all of them fondly. "I am proud of you. You serve the legacy well."

"But how can we stop them?" Kelsey spoke up, feeling confused. "Five of us against countless demons? It seems impossible."

"Nothing is impossible," Zordon said gently. "If you only believe."

"Believe in what?" Taylor's voice was tinged with sarcasm.

"You must have confidence in your skills. I know you can do it."

"Farwell for now," Trini said. "We will be in touch."

With that, the four of them dissipated into blue sparkles, leaving them alone with the cool night. Kelsey looked to the others. They all looked as stunned as she felt. This was amazing, but what had she done to deserve it? There were so many times when she felt like she had failed her teammates… too many to count. Could she do this? Suddenly the guilt began to make sense…

"They really trust us," Kira said softly.

"They do," Maya replied.

"We can't scour the ruins much with no light," Kelsey said. "The ruins of their old temple are vast. We'll have to wait until first light."

To Be Continued...


Author's Note: To quote Marshall McLuhan, I don't necessarily agree with everything I say. With that, I hope everyone is doing well and completing their homework assignments or work tasks. As per usual, thanks to new and old reviewers and lurkers who read but don't review. Everyone have a wonderful day. Have you hugged your zord today-EK